Aftermarket dab aerial

[dudese]

Hey guys. Im sick of my flaky dab and ive tried pretty much everything with no luck. So im just wondering what aftermarket aerial will work. Im assuming a cheap stick on glass one will work? Im just confused about what connector I need.

Failing that I could try another amplifier, as I did buy one but it was used, and if anything has made it worse (I think, but its inconclusive). They are hard to come by though and just adding more expense.

Atleast if I try an aftermarket aerial and that works then I know its not the radio or something, or at this rate might just keep it as a perm solution.

Any suggestions would be great

 

[cairus]

This works great for me

https://www.amazon.de/gp/aw/d/B09ZPHHBNL?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

 

[dudese]

This works great for me

https://www.amazon.de/gp/aw/d/B09ZPHHBNL?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

Thanks. Looks like the kind of thing I want. Im in the UK though. Im assuming its just a standard fakra connection that goes to the unit in the glovebox?

 

[cairus]

Yes

 

[andye1]

Is the connector for the antenna black on the back of the glovebox unit as some aftermarket dab antenna seem to have blue ones. Wasn't sure if gps was blue or not.

 

[nd-photo.nl]

Other than the antenna, do you need to code something or swap out the antenna and done?

 

[DaveS]

DAB receivers can be very sensitive to interference from other DAB transmissions. If you are near to a DAB transmission site, it can block signals from other sites further away that provide other frequencies/channels. If this is the cause of problems that anyone has, adding an amplifier will make it worse. Changing antennas may also make it worse if it increases the level of signals into the radio. The UK's regulator Ofcom calls this particular problem 'hole punching'. New DAB transmitters are being added in the UK (the latest are called SSDAB), so some people may have problems as time goes on. Ofcom are trying to reduce or prevent hole punching but it is far from an exact science. The SSDAB sites are tending to be located in towns rather than at existing main transmitter sites which makes the problem worse.

If you want to find out the locations of DAB transmitter sites, search for 'Ofcom txparams'. They have spread sheets with all the technical details. They can be imported into Google Earth with a little effort. FM transmissions were much less affected by hole punching. Driving past Wrotham on the M20 does knock out most FM radios for a while though.

 

[dudese]

I'm still having no luck with my dab. I did try an aftermarket ariel, which barely worked as couldn't get it's amplifier working with the mib2 (should have bought a different one but oh well accidents happen).

I also bought a second hand amplifier and swapped that out, but it made things worse! I lost all SDL channels. D1/BBC/local seemed to work, arguably with less random cut outs, but weaker signal overall. I've gone back to my original amplifier now, but I do recall the other one sometimes briefly picking up SDL near my work about 20 mins from home. Maybe it was just a bad replacement, but now I'm not sure if I should pay £70 for a new one.

What's strange is, that it will often drop out for less than a second just after ive started the car/system. It does it enough to notice. The rest of the cut outs are still less than a second each time normally, but sometimes a few in a short space and happens very very randomly (I'm not counting black spots where it normally drops). It almost feels like its the car causing the interference sometimes, yet I've tried unplugging dashcam etc.

Maybe it is just all these dab upgrades around the country and the older tech in my leon not liking it as much, that's what I might have to conclude soon as I'm running out of things to try. Just not sure if it's worth trying another amplifier, or writing it off and living with it.